Happy Halloween!

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by for Chapter 12. Things are falling into place nicely and chapter 13 should be up soon. Once again, the Muses have been kind to me, keeping me inspired! :)

Big thanks to Agel15, NCCJFAN, pol, Sweet-rush37, Kacie20 & sugar 31107 for your reviews! It means a lot to me that you take the time to tell me what you think!!! I can't believe how many reviews I've had! WOW!

To sugar31107-Chapter 11 disappeared for a while, don't know why!

Disclaimer: I don't own Jordan or Woody or Crossing Jordan, darn it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When the elevator doors opened I ran straight to the lab. "Nige!" I said.

"Hello Jordan," he said, looking up from his computer screen. He handed me a paper, which included a drivers license picture and an address and phone number. "Is that her?"

"Yeah, it is. Nigel, you are a genius, I don't care what everyone says about ya," I said as I studied the paper.

"Thanks, luv," he said with a little smirk. "I didn't tell anyone."

"Thanks, Nige. I'm going to go to her house now. I'll be back later."

"Wait, Jordan. Her work address is on there, too. She's probably there now."

I glanced down at the paper. "Nordstrom? Right on, Nigel. I'll try there first. Thanks again."

"You're welcome," he said. Then he looked at me seriously. "Be safe, Jordan, and good luck."

I smiled. "Will do," I said as I tucked the paper into my pocket and went to Garret's office.

"Hey, boss," I said as I stuck my head through the door. "I have to run for a while. I'll be back later."

"What are you doing, Jordan?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothin. Just have something I need to do," I said and backed out of his office before he could ask any more questions. "Later," I said as I hurried back to the elevator, pretending I couldn't hear him calling me.

Lily was just getting off the elevator as I rushed into it. She was carrying her lunch and tried to stop me. I hit the door close button.

"Can't, Lil. I'll be back later. I'm in a hurry," I said as the doors slid shut, cutting off her protests.

My heart was pounding with anticipation as I drove to Nordstrom. I knew full well that I could just as easily have called the store or, probably better still, called Woody, but I didn't. I had been too late for Shannon, I wanted to make sure I did everything I could for Darcie.

I went straight to the information desk when I got to the department store. I asked if Darcie was working and the customer service girl looked her up on the schedule. "Yes, she should be in women's shoes," the girl told me.

"Do you know if she's here or not?" I asked.

The girl shook her head. "No, you'll have to check with that department. Upstairs and to the left."

"Okay, thanks," I said as I rushed off to find the shoe department.

I took the escalator, my heart pounding. When it reached the second floor I hurried off and went to the left and immediately found the shoe department. I walked to the register where I could see a dark haired girl with her back to me. She was on the phone. I waited somewhat patiently until she hung up the phone and turned around.

"Darcie!" I said with a sigh of relief.

"Oh my God! Jordan Cavanaugh, is that you?" she squealed.

"Yeah!" I said, feeling my heartbeat go back to normal.

Darcie and I had been very close, though we weren't as good as friends as I had been with Shannon. Darcie was the wild one of our group, the first one to try a new drink or, more likely, a new drug. She had talked me into getting a tattoo with her when we were in ninth grade. Matching butterflies on our hips.

Memories flooded over me. I thanked whatever God was listening that Nigel had found Darcie before the killer had.

"What are you doing here? I haven't seen for what, five years or more?" she said, grinning. She still had her dark brown hair cut short, framing her face in an A-line cut. She looked the same as I remembered, with her broad smile and dimples.

"It's kind of a long story. I work at the Medical Examiners office," I said. "I need to talk to you, it's pretty urgent. Can you take a break or something?"

Darcie looked bewildered but saw the seriousness in my eyes and simply nodded. "Sure, let me go tell my supervisor. I'll be right back."

She went through a doorway where I could see stacks of shoes. I leaned against the counter, wondering exactly what I was going to tell her.

And then suddenly a hand clapped me firmly on the shoulder and I jumped and whirled around.

"Jesus, Woody. You scared the shit out of me," I said as I saw Woody standing behind me, looking murderous.

"Jordan! What are you doing here? How did you find her? No, wait. Let me guess. Nigel?" Woody asked, his voice hard.

I sighed. "Yes, Nigel."

"Why the hell didn't you call me? We just went to her house and no one was there, so her neighbors told us where she worked."

I shrugged. "I didn't think about it," I lied.

"That's your problem Jordan. You don't think! If she hadn't been here would you have called me before you went to her house?"

I looked down guiltily. "Um..."

"That's what I thought. God damnit Jordan, what if you went there and the killer was there? When are you going to start thinking?"

I stood there, feeling properly chastised and starting to get angry. "Okay, Woody. I get it."

"No, you don't. That's the problem."

"Um, Jordan, is everything okay?"

I turned around to see Darcie standing there with her purse, looking alarmed.

"Yeah, it's fine. This is Detective Hoyt with the Boston PD," I said.

"You can call me Woody," he said, giving her his charming grin. "I'm sorry to bother you at work, but we need to talk to you."

I breathed a sigh of relief at the 'we'. He couldn't be too mad if he was going to let me stay.

"That's okay. Jordan said that it was important."

"It is," I said. "Is there somewhere we can talk here?"

"We can go to the café," she said. "It's probably pretty empty by now."

"That's fine," Woody said, giving me a warning look, obviously telling me to let him do his job.

We went to the café and got coffee and sat in a booth in a corner.

"Have you heard anything about the Burke Alum murders?" Woody asked.

Darcie looked troubled. "I just heard about them yesterday. I work two jobs and I never hear the news. My Mom heard about it in Florida and called me last night." She looked at me and I could see tears glistening in her eyes. "It's everyone from the gang but you and me," she said.

"I know," I said. "And I'm thinking that you and I are next."

Woody glared at me. "We don't know anything," he said when Darcie looked horrified. "I have some questions. Have you noticed anything unusual, had any strange things happen?"

Darcie stared into space for a minute, biting her bottom lip. "Well," she said finally. "There was the guy from the reunion committee. He kind of gave me the creeps."

Woody whipped out his notebook. "Reunion committee? Jordan, have you heard about this?"

I shook my head. "No. Our reunion is next year," I said. "It seems kinda early. What did he want?"

"Well, I thought it was weird too. He wanted a picture, said he was putting together a display of some before and after pictures. He said he was writing up an article for the reunion, something for the pamphlet they were going to have there."

Woody was busy scribbling in his notebook. "That should be easy enough to verify through the school's Alumni Association," he said. "They're in charge of reunions, I think."

"What was his name?" I asked.

"Umm. John something. John Newman, I think. I didn't remember him from school. He said he transferred in before senior year or something," Darcie said. "He said he was on the newspaper staff. I was gonna look him up in my yearbook but I couldn't find them and then I forgot about it."

"When was this?" Woody asked.

"Umm. Last week. Thursday maybe?"

"Did he come here?"

She shook her head. "No, at my apartment."

Woody looked startled. "Your apartment? Huh."

My scalp prickled when I thought about that. He had found her, had known where she was a week before we did. Did he know where I lived, too? I had no doubt that this guy was who we were looking for. There wasn't a chance that the reunion committee would send a guy to a woman's apartment to take a picture.

"What did he look like?" Woody asked.

"Um. He was pretty tall, kind of heavy. He had dark hair, brown. His eyes were brown, too. He had a goatee."

"If I take you to the precinct could you talk to a sketch artist?" Woody asked.

Darcie nodded. Her eyes were fearful, but she was determined. "Of course."

"Great," Woody said. "Why don't we go to the precinct, you can talk to the sketch artist while I see what I can find about this guy."

Darcie's face was pale. "O-okay," she said shakily.

"Jordan, why don't you meet us there?" Woody asked. "We'll go talk to Miss Williams' manager so she doesn't get into trouble."

I nodded. "Okay," I said and they went to find the manager and I went to my car. I felt at once elated that I had been in time, that Darcie was safe, and I felt cold at the thought that the man who could be the Burke Alum Killer had been in her apartment. He'd been in her apartment, I thought. Maybe there were fingerprints.

When I reached the precinct I went inside and was greeted cheerfully by several officers that I had worked with on various cases. I went straight to Woody's office and sat down and was joined by Woody a few minutes later.

His eyes were troubled as he sat at his desk. He ran his hand through his hair, something that he always did when he was anxious. "She's talking to Dave now," he said, referring to Dave Richards, the sketch artist.

"Are you checking her apartment for fingerprints?" I asked. "If he was there taking pictures he had to have touched something."

Woody shook his head and sighed. "Miss Williams said that he was wearing leather gloves. He didn't ever take them off."

My scalp prickled again. "He wasn't with any Alumni Association," I stated.

"I'm sure he wasn't," Woody agreed. "I have a guy working on that, but I have a feeling that this guy is our killer. We have to re-interview the families of the other victims, see if any of them knew anything about a guy from the Reunion Committee." He sighed heavily. "I'm sure that John Newman isn't his name. We have nothing on this guy except for Miss Williams' description and she wasn't even very clear about that. He made her nervous and she said she didn't pay that much attention to what he looked like, so I don't know how accurate she will be."

"Oh man," I said.

"We're going to have someone trail her," Woody said. "I'd like to put her in protective custody, but we don't even have a suspect so there's no way we could do that. She said she may take some time off of work and go to Florida to visit her parents. I told her that would be a good idea."

I nodded. "Yeah."

There was silence for a minute while Woody watched me carefully. "Jordan, I think you should reconsider staying with your Dad for a while."

"I can't do that, Woody. We don't have a suspect, I can't just stay there indefinitely. What if we never find the guy?"

"We'll find him, Jordan. We're getting closer. But I think you should stay with someone, Lily said you could stay with her."

I shook my head firmly. "I won't put her in danger," I said. "I can take care of myself. You have a cop outside my apartment, I'll be fine."

Woody sighed again and looked irritated. "You're impossible, Jo."

"Yeah, I know," I said and gave him a little half smile.

"I'm going to go check on the info I gave Frank. I'll be in touch when I know anything, okay?" Woody said as he stood up.

"Okay," I replied. I looked at him. "Uh, and thanks, Woody," I said awkwardly.

"For what?"

I shrugged. "For watching out for me," I said and then I escaped before I said anything else.

((please please review! A pumpkin shaped cookie if ya do! :)